Sawyer gave her a curt nod. “Pleasure.”
“What do you mean?” Olivia’s mind was spinning. “Lloyd, what’s going on?” Her gaze stopped at the little girls. They had bright blue eyes, identical smiles and curls that had been gathered into nubby little pigtails at the sides of their heads. These would be Sawyer’s daughters—the reason Sawyer’s in-laws were so eager to reconcile with him to begin with. Even as she looked at Lloyd for some sort of explanation, she knew it couldn’t happen in front of the girls.
Taking the hint, Lloyd angled his head toward the house and took a step back, and Olivia followed him a few paces off. Sawyer watched them for a moment, then scooped the toddler into his arms and turned back toward the field.
“Sawyer was in an accident a couple of days ago,” Lloyd said, keeping his voice low. “He got kicked in the head by a cow when he was trying to put the chains on her for a difficult delivery. He was unconscious for about five minutes, and when he came to...this.” Lloyd sighed.
“What is this?” Olivia demanded.
“Temporary amnesia. He doesn’t remember anything. We took him to the hospital and they did a bunch of tests. The doctor says his memory should come back here pretty soon, so right now, it’s just a waiting game.”
“So Sawyer doesn’t remember me?” she asked hesitantly.
“Don’t take it personally,” Lloyd replied with a shrug. “He doesn’t remember me, either. Or his girls.”
She watched as the toddler who was playing in the grass headed in her father’s direction. Sawyer put down the other girl, and they both reached for their father and clutched at his jeans. He smoothed a hand over the tops of their heads but didn’t lean down to pick them up again.
“How long does it normally take to get memory back with his kind of injury?” she asked.
“A week or two, the doctor says,” Lloyd replied. “The damage isn’t too bad. It could have been a lot worse. But it’s good you’re here. Maybe you can jostle a few memories loose for him.”
Olivia smiled wanly. “If his own daughters aren’t enough... Maybe with Mia gone, he doesn’t want to remember.”
Mia was Sawyer’s late wife, and Sawyer and Mia had been Olivia’s best friends, but that was a long time ago.
“Well, his girls need their father to come back to himself,” Lloyd retorted. “So, he’d better start pulling up a few memories, no matter how painful they might be.”
Olivia pulled her fingers through her sandy blond curls. Her mind was spinning. She was here to try and mend fences between Sawyer and his in-laws. Mia’s parents, Wyatt and Irene White, had made her a deal: if she could soften Sawyer up enough to allow them access to their granddaughters, then they’d use their clout with the hospital board to help reduce the medical bills from her mother’s illness. The weight of that debt had been the reason her brother wouldn’t speak to her anymore. One reconciled family for another—that was the deal. But the timing couldn’t be worse. If Sawyer couldn’t remember anything, how could he reconcile with the Whites? But then again, if he couldn’t remember, maybe he’d be okay with them visiting the girls, after all.
Using his amnesia that way was underhanded, and she knew it. Olivia was an honest woman, and she wasn’t willing to manipulate an already vulnerable situation, no matter how high the stakes were. Sawyer’s memory would come back. That’s what the doctors said, right? She could hold off on convincing him until then.
One of the toddlers drummed her hands against Sawyer’s leg and started to cry. He bent down and picked her up then, and she tipped her curly head against his shoulder. He patted her back awkwardly, murmuring something to her that Olivia couldn’t make out.
“The problem is,” Lloyd went on, “we’re real busy right now what with calving and all. Sawyer being out of it has slowed us down, and I’ve had to stick around the house to watch him and the girls, so that sets me back even further.”
“Yes, I could see that being tough,” she agreed.
“How long are you out here for?” Lloyd asked.
Olivia had two weeks off of work at the hospital in Billings, and she wasn’t planning on staying a day longer than it took to iron things out around here. But there was slim chance of a reconciliation happening by then if Sawyer couldn’t remember anything.
“A couple of weeks, I suppose,” she replied.
“Because if you’d be willing to pitch in here with Sawyer, keep an eye on the kids a bit—”
“Who normally watches them?” she asked with a frown.
“Ellen Guise was their nanny. One of our relatives. But yesterday, she got a call from her daughter. Some sort of emergency with her mother-in-law in Tennessee. So she had to go,” Lloyd said. “I mean, she’ll be back in a few weeks, but it’s just tough timing all round. Look, the thing is, I can’t offer to pay you or anything. I’m in a real bind. Everyone else is as busy as I am with their own cattle, so I don’t have anywhere else to turn right now. It would free me up to get back to work. I’m just asking as a favor. I mean, if you had the time, or something. Besides, maybe you can help him to remember.”
Lloyd met her gaze pleadingly, and he rubbed a hand over his bald head. Then he let his hand drop to his side.
She’d come back to Beaut for two things: to try and reconcile Sawyer to his late wife’s family, and to do a little reconciling of her own with her brother. She couldn’t do either of those things until Sawyer was back to himself. When she needed his help so badly, how could she turn down the chance to help him in turn? Besides, this was Sawyer. She had some hard memories in this town, and she didn’t trust people to have changed a whole lot. But Sawyer had been one of the good ones. She sighed, glancing back at the rugged cowboy by the fence. She’d have to help him—she knew that.
“Do you think Sawyer wants me here?” she asked quietly.
“It’s all the same to him, I think,” Lloyd said. “At first, he was pretty freaked out, not remembering anything. Now he just seems like he’s given up. Stands there and looks out at the fields. I can’t let him come with me like this—he’s another accident waiting to happen. He needs someone to hang out with him, remind him of things.”
“Well... I do need to try and sort a few things out with my brother while I’m here,” she said. “But I could pitch in. For a few days, at least.”
“Would you?” Lloyd asked, a relieved smile breaking over his face. “Olivia, you have no idea how much that would help me. I don’t want to push you into anything, of course...”
“No, no, I’m happy to help,” she said.
“Thank you. Would it put you out too much to live here? I know you probably have something else arranged, but it would be great if you could stay in the house with us. I’ve got an office on the opposite end of the house from where me and Sawyer sleep. There’s a single bed in there. So it’ll be comfortable enough for you, and feel free to eat whatever you want from the fridge...”
“No problem,” Olivia said. “I’ve got a room booked at the hotel in town, but I can cancel that.” She’d help where she could, make some time to try to visit with her brother, and maybe by the time she left, Sawyer would be back to normal and he’d be willing to sit down with his late wife’s parents and make peace. God worked in mysterious ways, and perhaps this was all part of a bigger plan.
She could only hope. Because right now, her biggest priority was her relationship with her brother, and if she couldn’t offer him some sort of reprieve from their troubles, she doubted that he’d want anything to do with her again.
* * *
Sawyer looked down at the curly-headed toddler in his arms, and he struggled to